A Second Chance
by elbcw
Summary: A young musketeer cadet causes problems for the garrison. Aramis wants to give him another chance but the others are not so sure. This is a prequel to 'The Right Thing To Do' that I wrote a while ago.
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: A while ago I wrote a fan fic called 'The Right Thing to Do', about a former musketeer cadet who was angry with Aramis for not letting him continue with his training. This is a prequel to that story. I hope you enjoy it.

A Second Chance

Chapter One

'How long should we leave it before we split them up?'

'They ain't even fighting yet.'

'I know, but they will.'

Porthos leaned back in his chair as he watched the mounting tension between Dupont and Garde, which had been building for the last few minutes. Neither Porthos or Aramis, who was sat beside him cleaning his gun, could hear the heated conversation but the body language of each of the young cadets was clear. Garde had said something that had upset Dupont and Dupont was on the point of taking physical action.

Aramis wanted to step in before it got to an actual fight, but Porthos wanted to see if it got that far. Garde was one of the best of the recent cadets to begin training and had sailed through with few problems. He would gain his commission soon. Dupont on the other hand was struggling. But he would not accept the fact. He would not ask for help and became agitated and angry easily. He thought he was better than he was. Aramis could see potential in the young man, even if Porthos could not.

Dupont had arrived with a dubious letter of introduction from a Baron in the south of France. Unable to verify the contents of the letter, Treville had allowed the man to begin training, but had told the Musketeers to keep a close eye on him. Dupont had shown ability, but had little control or skill. He was clearly enthusiastic but had no formal training. They had been forced to start from scratch, which had upset the young man as he watched his peers being taught more advanced techniques.

The young man was of a large build and towered over some of the other cadets, he was strong but lacked elegance, which hampered him when it came to some of the more intricate movements in his swordsmanship.

It was Dupont who threw the first punch, Garde managed to dodge it and retaliated with a fine strike to the other man's cheek. Aramis and Porthos hurried across the garrison to split the two up. The other cadets were watching keenly, some were cheering on Garde. None cheered on Dupont.

Dupont had grabbed Garde by the shirt and had pulled back ready to head butt the other cadet. Porthos pushed Dupont away from Garde before he could strike. Aramis grabbed Dupont by the arms and manoeuvred him a few meters away. Aramis could feel the tenseness of Dupont's muscles; the young man was fired up and wanted to carry on with the fight.

'Easy, Hubert,' said Aramis, forcing Dupont further away.

Porthos had hauled Garde up and was steering him out of the garrison. Aramis watched them go, guessing Porthos would probably walk the young man to the nearest tavern, buy him a drink, and talk him down from his worked-up state.

'He hit me,' said Dupont as he shrugged Aramis off. Aramis did not let go entirely, but began to walk Dupont across the garrison to the infirmary.

'He retaliated,' replied Aramis as he opened the door and gently pushed the cadet through, 'you tried to hit him first…we were watching.'

'He said I was useless, that I don't deserve to be a Musketeer.'

'And you need to learn to ignore remarks like that.'

Aramis indicated a chair and Dupont reluctantly sat down. He sighed and reached up to touch his cheek, Aramis stopped him.

'Leave it, let me clean it,' Aramis admonished as he pushed the hand away. The damage did not look too bad, Garde must have been wearing a ring which had grazed the skin on Dupont's cheek.

'Why did he get to leave and I have to stay here?'

'Because you lost, and I want to clean up your injury.'

Dupont did not reply. He sat in sullen silence as Aramis wiped away the trickle of blood and cleansed the graze with alcohol.

'Jean won't get away with it either,' said Aramis as he worked, 'I suspect you will both get a few days working in the stables.'

'I didn't start it.'

Aramis rolled his eyes, Dupont was being quite obstinate. Aramis wondered if he had ever been like that when he was younger. He reflected that they all had their moments of fighting against authority.

MMMM

 _Why was he being punished when he had not been his fault? Garde had been making snide remarks all day about how ineffectual he was._

 _He was better than all of them, and they knew it, they were just jealous, Garde and his friends. That was why Garde had punched him._

 _If Aramis and Porthos had not turned up he would have shown the others how good a fighter he was._

 _And now, he was stuck here getting tended to by Aramis whilst Garde was probably being congratulated by Porthos somewhere._

MMMM

The tavern that Porthos took Garde to was not very busy, he nodded a greeting to the landlord as he entered and indicated a table in the corner. The landlord nodded back and went about collecting a bottle of wine and two cups for the Musketeer and the young cadet.

Once the wine had been delivered and Porthos had passed the landlord a few coins he turned to Garde, who was obviously still worked up. He was looking at his knuckles which were slightly bruised from hitting Dupont.

'That was a fine punch, Jean,' said Porthos as he poured them each a cup of wine.

'I'm sorry,' said Garde without looking up, 'I shouldn't have said things to wind him up.'

Porthos could tell the cadet had more to say so did not interrupt him.

'It's just…he's so easy…you only have to tell him he can't do anything and he gets defensive. He makes out he's so brilliant, when we all know he's not.'

Porthos was impressed that the young man was being so honest. He knew the cadets could be hot headed and impetuous, he had been the same. He remembered having more than one run in with Treville, he was nearly thrown out once, but Aramis had talked the Captain around. Garde was going to make a fine soldier, but Dupont was a different matter.

Despite Aramis' attempts to get the man to reign himself in, he made out he was better than all the other, even better than the cadets who were much closer to gaining their commission. When the inevitable happened, and it was proven that he was not as good as he pretended to be, Dupont would react with angry outbursts. Treville had told them to keep an eye on him, and with good cause it seemed.

'We do watch you all, you know. We know what he's like. But he's just about keeping up so there ain't much we can do about him.'

Garde finally looked up at Porthos, he reached out and took his cup of wine, Porthos noticed his hand was shaking slightly. Perhaps Garde had thought Porthos was going to throw him out when he had marched him out of the garrison. Porthos liked being able to instil fear in people, most of the time, but he did not want this young man to be afraid of him.

'Treville will probably have you mucking out the horses for a few days as punishment for fighting, don't worry too much about it. Believe me, you are likely to do worse at some point.'

Garde looked at little shocked, Porthos smiled.

'The stories I can tell you about some of the Musketeers…'

Garde looked intrigued, Porthos warmed to his subject, he always enjoyed regaling a new audience with tales of his and his friend's adventures.

MMMM

Treville nodded towards the chair as Athos entered his office. He sat and patiently waited for his Captain to finish writing. When Treville looked up he did so with an enquiring expression.

'Which one of them started it?' he asked.

'I think Garde made a comment which upset Dupont. Dupont threw the first punch, but Garde ducked out of the way. They were as bad as each other really…'

'But?'

'But Dupont continues to be a concern, he is not progressing as well as I would expect. And he will not accept help. Aramis has offered to give him extra training and Porthos tries to help him with his sword work but he is dismissive of them both.'

'Should we ask him to leave?'

'Aramis would like to try again with him, give him one more chance.'

Athos watched as Treville thought about the proposal. If it had been up to him he would have not taken on the young man in the first place. His reference could not be verified and he had been cocky from the outset. It had taken some time to teach him his place, even amongst the cadets there was a pecking order.

'Let Aramis have another go with him, but I don't think we can afford to waste much more time on him, we have more pressing needs and plenty of fine cadets to work with.'

MMMM

'Dupont, how many times do I 'ave to explain it, this may not be exciting but it'll help you,' sighed Porthos as the young man limply carried out the exercise with the other cadets. Porthos had to hide a smirk as he saw some of the other young men stifling laughs.

It was a week since Dupont and Garde had fought. They had both taken a turn at stable duty as punishment and were back on the training ground. Garde was sparring with Athos. The other cadets were impressed. Only the best got to spar with Athos who was the best swordsman in the garrison. Some of the other cadets had been allowed to spar either with other musketeers or between themselves.

Dupont and three other newer cadets were working with Porthos. He was trying to teach them the importance of footwork when fighting. But Dupont clearly was not interested and just wanted to spar with the others.

'I know how to fight,' said Dupont arrogantly, 'this is pointless.'

Porthos was reaching the end of his patients with the young man, he sighed and turned to the other three cadets, 'let's go again.'

Dupont reluctantly continued with the drills, but his moves were lacklustre and without grace.

Aramis had returned from guard duty a few minutes earlier and was watching from the edge of the garrison. Porthos wandered over to him as the cadets continued to practice the movements.

'He's hopeless,' Porthos said.

'I know, I don't know how much longer we can keep him on,' replied Aramis, 'but it seems such a shame, he wants the commission but he just can't seem to control his attitude.'

Dupont was barely trying, whilst the other three cadets were improving each time they tried the drill. They were working together and pointing out each other's mistakes and helping to correct them. Dupont was being shunned by the other three.

Porthos looked at Aramis, 'please take him away.'

Aramis smiled, taking pity on his friend, 'you owe me…I'm not even supposed to be doing any training today.'

Porthos wandered back over to his cadets, 'Dupont, go and see Aramis, he has a job for you.'

The young man huffed and wandered over to the marksman. Porthos nodded his thanks to Aramis as he directed the cadet towards the armoury.

MMMM

 _He did not need to learn how to fight with a sword, he knew how to fight with a sword. This stupid repetitive drill was pointless. How could the others not see that?_

 _Why did Garde get to spar with Athos? He could take on Athos, he could take on any of them._

 _He did not need extra practice and he did not need this humiliation, being taken away by Aramis in front of the other cadets._

MMMM

'Sit there and clean those guns.'

'What for?'

'Because I told you to.'

'I know how to clean a gun, we've done it a thousand times,' said Dupont as he sat heavily at the table in the armoury.

'And I want you to clean these guns now,' replied Aramis sitting opposite the cadet.

Aramis pushed one of the guns on the table towards the young man who reluctantly started to clean the weapon. Aramis did the same with one of the other guns. In truth, the weapons had all been cleaned earlier in the day, but Aramis found the actions of cleaning guns relaxing. And it meant he could talk to Dupont in private. He knew how close the young man was to being asked to leave and he did not want that to happen.

'You have to start listening to us,' began Aramis, 'we've all been doing this a long time. We know what we are talking about. The drills may be boring, and repetitive, but trust me, they will help you.'

The young cadet did not respond, he continued wiping down the gun in front of him, Aramis noted that his actions were very stiff. Dupont was going through the motions to placate him.

'You have to learn to walk before you can run…' Aramis gave Dupont a look that told him not to interrupt when he looked up and opened his mouth to speak.

'Even you have to admit you are not as good as some of the other cadets…and that is not a problem, but, if you continue to ignore our advice you will be asked to leave.'

Dupont stopped cleaning and looked at Aramis, obviously shocked.

'But I know how to fight, and I can shoot.'

Aramis smiled, 'your shooting isn't that good my friend.'

Dupont looked angry at the remark, despite Aramis trying to keep the conversation light, he had clearly hit a nerve.

'I can give you some extra tuition, if you would like,' said Aramis in an attempt to defuse the situation, 'there won't be anyone by the targets now, it would just be us two, if that is what you would prefer?'

Aramis watched as Dupont thought about what Aramis had said. Dupont nodded.

'Bring those and we'll go around there now.'

MMMM

An area of the garrison, away from the training ground, had been set up for target practice. After a couple of cadets had been hit by stray shots a few years ago Treville had decided it was too dangerous to let untrained youngsters loose with guns close to the rest of the men.

Dupont readied his weapon and was about to level it to fire when Aramis stopped him.

'No,' he said firmly taking Dupont by surprise, 'never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire. You run the risk of firing the shot to early, you would miss your opportunity, at the very least and you could hit something or someone by accident.'

Dupont seemed annoyed at the telling off initially, which did not surprise Aramis as he was probably the only one who had not had cause to speak to him in such a way. He knew Athos had once shouted at him when he had come close to slicing another cadets throat during an early sparring session. And Porthos had been quite firm with him just a couple of hours ago.

After a few seconds, Dupont expression softened, 'sorry,' he said, 'it won't happen again.'

Aramis spent a few minutes guiding the young man. He noticed an improvement almost immediately. But when he had to again, admonish the youth for the way he handled the gun he could tell Dupont needed a few minutes to calm down.

'Why don't you practice on your own for a bit? I'll be back in half an hour.'

Dupont nodded, and turned back to face the targets. Aramis turned to go, he started to walk back towards the training ground. A shot rang out from behind him. Instantly he felt a searing pain in his shoulder. He knew he had been shot.

MMMM


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

 _Dupont did not need to be told how to handle a gun. He knew how to handle a gun._

 _He had had enough of these men now, telling him what he could and could not do. He wondered what would happen if he 'accidently' shot Aramis. Perhaps Aramis would die and that would be one less of them to annoy him._

 _Raising the gun and firing it at the musketeer as he walked away was easy. But then the man did not die. He was hit, but it would not be fatal. And Aramis knew who had shot him._

 _The only option for Dupont was to run. Aramis might not be found in time, perhaps he would still die?_

MMMM

Aramis stumbled forward a few paces and just managed to put his left arm out to stop himself from crashing into the wall. His right shoulder felt like it was on fire. He screwed his eyes shut for a few seconds and tried to calm his rapid breathing. He looked around at Dupont.

Dupont looked shocked. The gun still in his hand. He blinked a couple of times, as if he could not believe what he had just done. He threw the gun down on the ground and ran off, passed Aramis, who was still clutching the wall for support.

As Dupont disappeared around the corner Aramis sank to his knees, panting hard. His vision was a bit blurry, but he did not think he would pass out, at least not yet. He realised he would have to get back to the main training ground. He did not think Dupont had gone for help, and no one would miss him for a few hours.

With difficulty, he struggled back up to stand. But he had to lean heavily against the wall. He managed to grab his right arm with his left hand and pull it across him, cradling it, the less he moved the injured limb the better.

Taking shaky steps, he managed to move forward slowly, pausing every few steps to catch his breath, leaning against the wall for support. He did not think the ball had gone through his shoulder, it needed to be removed, and the sooner that was done the better. His vision was clouding again, the pain radiating from his shoulder was making him dizzy.

He just had to make it around the corner.

MMMM

'Where is he off to in such a hurry?' said Athos as he watched Dupont walking quickly from the garrison. The cadet had glanced over at Porthos and Athos then rushed off.

'Maybe Aramis upset him,' chuckled Porthos.

Athos smirked, he knew that was unlikely, Aramis was far too patient and charming. He could calm anyone down. They had seen Aramis take Dupont around to the shooting range a while ago and heard the intermittent shots.

A movement across the garrison training ground caught his eye. Aramis stumbled around the corner, leaning heavily against the wall. He looked pale and was breathing hard.

'What…?'

'Something ain't right,' said Porthos rising and moving across the yard towards his friend.

MMMM

Porthos was just in time to stop Aramis crashing to the floor. He grabbed the marksman, who appeared to be barely conscious. As he lowered his friend to kneel on the floor he realised Aramis' shoulder was bloody.

'He's been shot,' said Porthos incredulously, 'shot in the back…'

Porthos glanced up at Athos, then over to the garrison gates, fury in his eyes.

'Accident,' Aramis managed to say weakly.

Porthos shook his head, he was not so sure. If it had been an accident why had the most obvious culprit bolted from the garrison only a couple of minutes before.

'I'll kill 'im,' said Porthos angrily.

'Perhaps we should look after Aramis first,' said Athos trying to calm Porthos down.

Porthos nodded and with Athos' help gently pulled Aramis to his feet and guided the barely conscious man towards the infirmary.

With practiced ease, they went about dealing with the injury, Porthos stripped Aramis of his jacket and shirt, then pushed him down onto one of the beds. Athos gathered what he needed to extract the ball and clean the wound.

'I'm sorry, this will hurt,' Athos said quietly to Aramis who managed to nod his head. They had all been through it, but it did not get any easier.

Porthos was sat opposite Athos leaning across Aramis who was lying on his side. As Athos leaned forward with a knife he gently felt the wound, causing a hiss of pain from the marksman.

'I can feel it, it is not deep,' said Athos as he eased the point of the knife into the wound and caught the ball with the tip.

Aramis tried to move away, breathing hard, but Porthos held him still. Porthos watched as Athos dug the ball out then went about cleaning the wound.

'Nearly done…' said Porthos, although he was not sure Aramis could hear him, the injured man had gone very still, his breathing settling down.

Once Aramis had passed out Porthos looked up at Athos and said, 'do you think this was an accident?'

Athos shook his head, 'Why would Dupont leave so quickly? He saw both of us there, he could have got help easily.'

'Shootin' a man in the back, is a cowardly thing to do. If he weren't such a bad shot Aramis could've been killed.'

'Go and tell Treville what has happened, I can do this on my own now,' said Athos.

Porthos was reluctant to leave his friend, but knew that Treville needed to be updated. Porthos helped Athos to turn Aramis onto his front so that the wound could be stitched.

'He'll be fine,' said Athos as he threaded the needle.

Porthos nodded and rose, he left the infirmary and made his way across to Treville's room.

MMMM

A few hours later Dupont was sat in the garrison yard with two musketeers watching him. After Porthos had updated Treville on the incident, a search had been made to find the cadet and bring him back. He had been found, not too far from the garrison, sat on some steps looking sorry for himself. Athos had been surprised that he had returned willingly.

Treville and Athos had questioned the young man who had insisted he had shot Aramis accidently. When asked why he had then left the injured man and run away he had told them he was confused and scared. He told them he was not thinking straight.

The young man certainly looked upset at his actions. Although Athos still found it difficult to believe he had shot Aramis accidentally. When Aramis had come around in the infirmary he had told them how he had admonished the young cadet regarding his handling of the gun, that he had told Dupont that there was a good chance he could accidently fire the weapon when he did not intend to.

Athos thought this had given Dupont the perfect excuse for shooting Aramis. It was clear the brash young man had an issue with authority.

'He has to go,' said Treville.

'I agree,' said Athos glancing across at Porthos who nodded.

Aramis, his arm in a sling, slowly nodded as well, 'I still don't think he meant it, but you're right,' he said.

'He could've killed you, he's a liability and you know it,' said Porthos firmly.

'Where is he now?' asked Aramis.

'In the yard,' replied Athos watching the still pale marksman carefully. He knew that Aramis wanted to be the one to talk to Dupont. He clearly felt responsible for the cadet, despite what had happened to him.

'I'll tell him,' said Porthos, turning to the door.

'No, I will, you'll be too…harsh.'

Athos watched as Porthos tried to retain a calm exterior as he turned back to Aramis who had swung his legs off the bed and was easing himself up to stand. Athos stepped forward and helped him up.

'I'll do it now, whilst nobody else is about, it doesn't need to be a spectacle.'

MMMM

 _He had lied. Lied about shooting Aramis accidently. Of course, it was not an accident. He was just sorry Aramis had not died. The only thing that went in his favour now was that Aramis still thought it was an accident. Dupont could tell Treville and Athos had not believed him._

 _Now he had to wait and see what his punishment would be, Aramis would talk them around, he would get to stay, he was sure._

MMMM

Aramis waited by the infirmary door for Athos and Treville to enter Treville's office. Porthos had insisted on staying close by, although Aramis had firmly told him to stay out of sight of Dupont. Porthos had very reluctantly agreed.

Aramis approached Dupont, he nodded at the two musketeers who were watching him, they walked away, disappearing out of sight. Aramis was alone with Dupont.

Dupont rose and stood in front of Aramis, he looked upset.

'I'm sorry,' he said, eyeing the sling on Aramis arm.

'I'll be fine,' replied Aramis, 'we've talked, and I'm sorry Hubert, but you cannot stay here any longer.'

Dupont, bristled with emotion as Aramis spoke. Aramis noticed a shadow come over the young man's face, a mixture of anger and disappointment.

'We don't think you're ready,' Aramis paused, then added, 'but maybe in a couple of years' time you could try again?'

Aramis knew this was not what Treville had said, but he would find a way to placate Treville and the others. He still believed the young man had potential, but knew he was too immature to become a soldier yet.

Dupont took a step towards Aramis.

MMMM

 _Leave. Aramis had told him he had to go. Told him he could not become a Musketeer. How could he?_

 _He was angry, he had never felt so angry. He really wanted to hurt Aramis._

MMMM

It was not until Dupont took a step towards him that he truly realised how angry the young man was. Aramis took an unconscious step back. Despite his youth Dupont was a bigger man than him, and with his shoulder injured and still feeling weak and in pain, Aramis realised he would not be able to fight the angry man.

Dupont stopped in front of Aramis, his fists clenched, Aramis thought the man was going to hit him, but he turned to leave instead. Aramis breathed out a sigh of relief. But the relief was short lived.

Dupont turned back and swung his fist at Aramis' face, catching him hard across the jaw. Stunned, Aramis stumbled back and crashed to the ground unable to stop himself. His injured shoulder jarred by the impact, he could not help a cry of pain. But Dupont had not finished, he stepped forward again and was about to kick Aramis when Porthos grabbed the young man from behind.

Aramis watched stunned as Porthos dragged the angry youth from the garrison yard and threw him roughly onto the street. Dupont scrambled up and walked away hurriedly. Porthos spoke to the two musketeers who were watching the gates, they nodded and appeared to be watching which way Dupont went.

MMMM

 _He wanted to kick Aramis, he wanted to break the musketeer's bones._

 _When he was grabbed from behind by Porthos he struggled hard against the man. But Porthos was bigger than him. Porthos was probably the only one who could beat him in an unarmed brawl. He realised he could not get away from Porthos._

 _He only hoped he had hurt Aramis again._

 _From outside the garrison, on the streets he glared at Porthos who glared back and told him to be on his way as he was no longer welcome._

 _He scrambled up and walked away._

 _But he would get his revenge against Aramis. Somehow._

MMMM

Aramis was still lying sprawled on the floor, watching the garrison gate as Porthos walked back to him.

'Are you OK?' he asked.

Aramis turned his attention to his friend, he blinked a couple of times then said, 'yes…I…really didn't…'

Porthos crouched down and inspected the marksman's shoulder wound. Then gently turned Aramis' face to look at the blossoming bruise on his jaw.

'I know, you thought it was accidental…he wanted to shoot you…I think he wanted to kill you. Come on, the stitches have been pulled, let's get you back to the infirmary.'

Porthos helped Aramis to stand, then, keeping a hand on Aramis' uninjured arm, walked with him back to the infirmary. As Porthos cut off the blood-stained bandage and prepared to stitch the wound again he noticed that Aramis had been quiet.

'This ain't your fault, you did more than the rest of us to try to get 'im up to scratch.'

'I know, I'm just…I can't work out what we did wrong. Could we have done more for him?'

'No, and you're not to dwell on the subject. 'e's gone and that's the end of it.'

Aramis nodded slowly. Porthos knew Aramis would dwell on it, but he would eventually accept that it was the right thing to do.

Porthos wondered where the young man would go. He wondered if they would see him again at some point in the future.

The End.

Authors note: Thanks for the reviews. Slightly abrupt ending, I know, but I don't want to overlap with 'The Right Thing to Do.' (which this is a prequel to). If you want to know what happened next, and have not read that one, off you pop!


End file.
